Card reconciliation has two halves: each transaction needs a receipt, purpose and code, and the statement must tie to the ledger. The agent handles both. It matches receipts to the card feed, proposes coding, chases cardholders for what is missing and ties the monthly statement to the card liability account. People decide on personal spend, policy breaches and card controls.
What is card reconciliation, and who owns it?
Corporate cards let employees pay suppliers directly, which is convenient and risky. Each month the card provider issues a statement and debits the company's account. Finance must show that every transaction was a business expense, coded to the right account and supported by a receipt, and that the statement total matches what was posted.
The card programme administrator, usually in finance, owns the cards: issuing, limits, merchant restrictions and cancellation. Cardholders own their own transactions. Their managers approve them. The accountant who owns the card clearing account signs the monthly reconciliation. Whether an agent can reconcile company card spend depends on respecting each of those roles.
What are the steps, and who acts at each one?
- Agent, depth 1: loads the card feed. Transactions from the card provider, daily, with merchant, amount, currency and merchant category.
- Agent, depth 1: matches receipts. Receipts uploaded by cardholders or forwarded by email are matched to transactions by amount, date and merchant.
- Agent, depth 2: proposes coding. Account, cost centre and tax code from the merchant, the receipt lines and the cardholder's history. How well an agent can code transactions to the right accounts is mostly a question of good history and a short list of exceptions.
- Agent, depth 2 or 3: chases cardholders. Reminders for missing receipts or purposes. Standard reminders can be sent at depth 3 once certified; escalations to managers are drafted for finance to send.
- Agent, depth 1: flags policy issues. Blocked merchant categories, split transactions to avoid limits, personal-looking spend, weekend spend where unusual, and duplicates with expense claims.
- Person, manager: approves the cardholder's transactions.
- Person, card administrator: decides on flagged spend. Recovery of personal spend, warnings, limit changes or card suspension.
- Agent, depth 2: ties the statement. Statement total against transactions posted and the card clearing account, with differences explained. Parks any correcting journal.
- Person, account owner: signs the reconciliation.
| Step | The agent does | Depth | Stays with a person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card feed | Loads daily | 1 | Nothing |
| Receipts | Matches to transactions | 1 | Nothing |
| Coding | Proposes | 2 | Manager approves |
| Chasing | Reminders | 2 or 3 | Escalations |
| Policy flags | Detects patterns | 1 | Administrator decides |
| Statement tie | Ties and explains | 2 | Owner signs |
| Card controls | Nothing | none | Administrator |
Which controls matter, and what evidence do they leave?
Card feed as the source of truth. The transaction amount and merchant come from the card provider, a signed source, not from the receipt. Evidence: source class on each transaction record.
Receipt match quality. Receipts that differ from the transaction in amount or date beyond a tolerance are flagged. Evidence: the match result per transaction.
No double claims. A transaction on the card is also claimed as an out-of-pocket expense. The agent compares card transactions with expense claims. Evidence: duplicate flags and outcomes.
Card control actions by people. The agent cannot suspend cards or change limits. Evidence: the administrator's actions in the card platform.
Monthly tie-out. Evidence: the signed reconciliation of statement to ledger.
What should you measure?
- Transactions without receipts after the deadline, by cardholder.
- Personal spend identified and recovered.
- Coding changed by managers or finance.
- Statement differences at month end.
- Days from statement date to signed reconciliation.
Where does it usually go wrong?
Receipts that do not match the transaction. A receipt for a lower amount is attached to a higher transaction, the difference being a tip or a personal item. Match on amount within a tight tolerance.
Split transactions. A purchase over the card limit split into two the same day at the same merchant. The agent should link them and flag.
Foreign currency differences. The receipt is in one currency, the card transaction in another with fees. The agent should compare at the card rate and identify fees separately.
Coding that affects tax. Entertainment, gifts and similar spend often have different tax treatment. Miscoding them as general expenses flows into the corporate tax provision workpapers. Keep a short list of tax-sensitive categories that always need a person to confirm.
Confusing your side with the bank's. Card issuers have their own processes to confirm suspicious card transactions with customers. That is fraud prevention at the issuer, not your reconciliation; your agent should not try to replicate it, but it should pass suspected card fraud to the administrator immediately.
What does a month look like?
Take an illustrative company with 80 cardholders and 1,200 card transactions in a month. The agent matches receipts to 1,075 and codes them, chases receipts for 110 more and gets most back within the week, and flags the other 15: four split purchases, six with receipts for lower amounts, three at blocked merchant categories and two also claimed as expenses. The administrator recovers two personal items and warns one cardholder. The statement ties to the clearing account apart from one refund in transit.
Where Pryme fits
In Pryme, matching, coding and chasing are separate capabilities, each certified on your own past card statements. The card provider's feed arrives as signed data and uploaded receipts as external, so a transaction's amount never rests on a photograph alone. Every flag and decision is filed. The finance bounds are in AI agents for finance.
Questions people ask
Can the agent suspend a card when it spots misuse?
No. It flags the transaction to the card administrator, who decides. Suspending a card affects a person and their ability to work.
What about virtual cards for suppliers?
Virtual cards used for a single supplier or purchase reconcile more easily, because each card maps to one purpose. The agent should check that each was used only as intended.
How quickly should cardholders submit receipts?
Within a set number of days of the transaction, written in policy. The agent's reminders are only as firm as the policy behind them.